Heart On Fire
by wintersayshi
Summary: Kelly Severide and Serena McArthur had a history. They had always been more than friends and they had a long and complicated history together, some of it good and some of it not so good. The firefighter and doctor who never seemed to get it right but they may just get that chance when a death of a friend brings Serena home.
1. Chapter 1

Serena McArthur hated funerals. Well nobody liked funerals as there was nothing to really like about them but Serena as she preferred to be known as hated funerals especially the funeral of a firefighter. Serena had been to just over a dozen of these funerals given that two of her brothers were firefighters and her dad was a deputy district chief. Their family didn't just consist of Serena, her brothers and their father but also the entire chicago fire department. So when a firefighter died in the line of duty it was personal especially when Serena knew the firefighter. Andy Durden, the two of them had known each for ten years and met when Serena was in her final year of med school. As Serena watched the colour guard fold up the flag from Durden's coffin that was to be presented to his widow Heather and their children she couldn't help but remember when she got the call about Andy. Serena was in surgery and about to make the first incision on a guy who had a lacerated spleen when Linda the scrub nurse said she had a call from her father. Thinking nothing of it Serena told Linda to tell her father that she'd call him back but Linda just repeated that her father was on line and it was important. Taking a deep breath Serena told Linda to put her father on speaker, whatever it was he had to tell her she'd deal with it.

Growing up surrounded by firefighters Serena knew that there was a chance that one day she may get a call like this. But it turns out the call wasn't about her brothers, it was about Andy, there had been a fire and that's all Serena needed to know as that's what it always was. Weird thing about the entire thing was that there was an edge of relief in Serena's stomach that her father wasn't calling about her two eldest brother's Callum and Hayden despite the fact that she had just lost a friend. At the time Serena thanked her father for telling her and said she'd call him back later as she was in surgery because as much as she wanted to grief for her friend, she had a man on the table bleeding out from his spleen.

"You okay shrimp?"

"I'm fine…" Serena replied, her voice crackling ever so slight as she looked over at her brother Rory, one of her two brothers along with her who didn't go into a firefighting career. Whilst their father and two other brothers were standing in their dress uniforms with their fellow firefighters Serena was with her two other brothers Rory and Finley. The look that her brother Rory gave her suggested that he didn't believe her and Serena wasn't fine, she had gone through three tissues already and her dad made her take a swing from his flask before the service had even began. Which went a long way given that her emotions were all over the place, a part of Serena still couldn't believe that Andy was dead given that it was Andy, the major goofball who walked around wearing a stupid ass goofy grin on his face constantly. She never expected for him to end up this way.

The funeral eventually wound up and slowly people started making their way to the wake that was taking place at one of Andy's favourite haunts. Serena was catching a ride with her dad as her brothers all had to return to work but her dad was currently in the middle of a conversation with some colleagues so Serena was basically waiting around, looking around aimlessly until her eyes crossed someone who was very familiar to her. A man with short black hair that was beginning to be tinted with flecks of grey and blue eyes that were always capable of convincing her to do stupid things, dressed in his dress blues looking very static but despite that Serena still recognized him. There was no way she could ever forget Kelly Severide, not after everything the two of them had been through over the years and as soon as he saw her Serena immediately turned away from him.

"Rocket?"

Serena should have walked way but instead she paused. At work she was nicknamed 'The Rocket' and people thought she was nicknamed that because how fast she responded to traumas which was only partially true, only one person outside of work called her Rocket and it wasn't because of how fast she was on her feet. Serena didn't know why she turned away because she knew he was going to be as after all he was one of Andy's best friends and Serena wouldn't have met Andy if it wasn't for him. Taking a deep breath Serena slowly turned around and mustered the biggest smile she could, which wasn't much considering what today was. "Hi Kelly…"

"I thought that was you, although i wasn't too sure at first…" Kelly replied.

"Yeah it's the red hair, it takes a while to get used to…" Serena wearily said as she fingered the ends of her french braid, naturally she was a brunette although she had a little habit of colouring her hair ever so often and for the last six months she had been a redhead and before that she had been blonde.

"Well it suits you Rocket, i mean Serena or can i not call you Rocket? I don't know whether people still call you that." Kelly asked and Serena was surprised about how nervous Kelly was being as the Kelly Severide she knew didn't know the meaning of the word nervous. He was the guy who raced into burning building without a second thought. But then again they hadn't seen each other in years and he had just lost his best friend.

"I'm still referred to as Rocket." Serena vaguely said, completely ignoring Kelly's question about whether or not he could still call her Rocket or not.

"It's good to see you." Kelly added.

"You too Kelly, i just wish that it wasn't under these circumstances… I'm really sorry about Andy, i left you a message but i didn't exactly know what to say. It's been three years since we last saw each other…" Serena awkwardly said and the two of them fell into silence, neither sure of what to say but then Serena decided to move things along. "If only Andy was here… He'd probably stagger over to us–"

"–And ask who died." Kelly finished and the two of them wearily laughed.

"It wasn't your fault Kelly." Serena stated and Kelly just looked away and rubbed the back of his neck, she knew he was probably beating himself up about what happened, stuff like this happened all the time, it was a hazard of the job and every firefighter knew that when they responded to a call. Even though Serena knew Kelly wouldn't believe her, she said it anyway

"Hey.. I've got to run and get back to the truck, but are you going to the wake? I figured we could catch up over a couple of drinks for old times sake, Andy would have wanted us to..." Kelly asked.

"I'm going, just waiting on my dad." Serena replied.

"So I'll see you there?"

"Yeah."


	2. Chapter 2

Kelly Severide took a swing of his beer as he looked around the room, taking in everyone including his fellow firefighters who had come to celebrate and mourn the life of Andy. Severide still couldn't believe what had happened, Andy would still be with them if Casey hadn't have let him climb through that window to vent the house. It wasn't fair that his friend died because of somebody else's mistakes. As he looked around the room Severide finally spotted the one person he had been looking for ever since he had seen her at the funeral; Serena, the one who always got away but yet at the same time was constantly there, the woman who drove him insane and not always in a good way and always gave as good as she got. The two of them had a history, they had been friends but after countless screw ups on his part and an incident that led them to stop speaking for six months before Serena moved to Boston. They hadn't spoke to each other in three years up until today. Severide didn't even think she would show but Serena had. At first Severide didn't recognize Serena, he put it down to her now being a redhead given that the last time he had seen her she was brunette. Her face was familiar but the hair completely threw him off until he saw her legs and realized he knew those legs very well and they belonged to Serena McArthur.

Severide could have kicked himself for not recognizing her sooner but there was only one way to really know if it was her and that was to call her by his personal nickname of Rocket. Serena always claimed to hate it but not once since Severide had known her did she not answer to it. So Severide did, he called out Rocket and Serena stopped and he really knew that it was her. No matter what had gone on between them she was always going to be_ his_ Rocket. He called her Rocket because of her temper, Serena was one of those people who rarely lost their temper but when she did she was literally like a rocket and could not be stopped until she reached her target. Severide knew well enough to stay out of her path when she was like that given that he had been on the receiving end of her temper a couple of times.

Severide took another swing of his beer as he watched Serena get into a conversation with her dad Casey and he didn't like it at all. Ever since the accident, he couldn't bring himself to talk to Casey, not when he blamed him for Andy's death. Draining the rest of his beer Severide made his way over to the small group in order to grab Serena. "Hey…"

"Severide." Chief McArthur greeted, whilst he had never been great at making impressions with parents for some reason Severide had managed to make a good impression with Serena's father, who always welcomed him for sunday dinner whenever he was free.

"Chief McArthur, it's been a while…"

"It has."

"You ready to get that drink?" Severide asked and Serena nodded and after she excused herself from present company the two of them walked away and as they left Severide could see that Chief McArthur was wearily eying him up which was a bit weird. The two of them made their way to the bar where Severide ordered the two of them a beer. "Do i have to worry about your dad?"

Serena frowned. "No… Is there a reason that you think my dad has to be worried about you?"

"No, forget it." Severide replied with a shake of his head, originally he thought that Chief McArthur was being a bit cold with him because of what had happened between him and his daughter. But given Serena's response to the question, he gathered that she hadn't said a word to him about why they had fell out.

"My dad always says that it's a bad day when your in a bar filed with firefighters drinking and you don't have to shout over people to have a conversation." Serena wearily said with a small smile as the bartender handed them their drinks.

"He's right." Severide grimly added.

"You haven't changed a bit Rocket, you look the same." Severide noted as he watched Serena take a sip of her drink, she was the same as he remembered with her heart shaped face, the green eyes that Serena lazily rolled when he suggested something that she thought was stupid or lame. The only difference was her hair and although Severide was shocked to see Serena with red hair at first, he was growing used to it.

"It's been three years Kelly, i wasn't going to change that much… What were you expecting? Me to be not so happily married and pregnant?" Serena skeptically said and Severide didn't know how to reply to that as whilst those thoughts had occasionally crossed him mind he was glad that it hadn't. But if he ever admitted that, it would no doubt lead to Serena getting pissed off with him and the last thing he wanted to do was let the 'rocket' loose.

"I don't know what to expect." Severide replied and the two of them fell into a comfortable silence, that was one of the things that Severide had missed about Serena. The two of them could sit in each other's company without having a need to actually say anything.

"How are you?" Serena asked after about ten minutes.

"Bit of a redundant question, don't you think Rocket?" Severide asked given where they were and what had happened to their friend. He knew that Serena would no doubt have a response about how it was what you were supposed to do in situations like these but Severide honestly didn't know right now. He and Andy had known each other since they were kids, became firefighters together and worked in the same house together. On the day Andy died, Severide could remember saying 'Andy makes squad the day i'm no longer in charge' no matter how hard Severide wanted to forget ever saying that, it never seemed to go away.

"You know what i mean Kelly." Serena softly replied, gently nudging Severide in the ribs and he caught a look in her eyes that contained actual worry. She was worried about him, no doubt about how he was coping with all of this despite the fact that she had her own grief to deal with. The fact that Serena was so worried about him made Severide adamant about not even mentioning the pain in his shoulder, as all Serena would do was tell him to go see his doctor or worse, tell him she'd be willing to take a look at it. There was no reason to worry Serena about it as Severide put it down to being a pinched nerve due to the fall he took in the blast, it would probably be fine in another week or so.

"I'm fine, don't worry about me." Severide assured her although he knew there was little chance of that happening. "But enough about me, how are you Rocket?"

"Nothing much, still a lover of tequila and very much a workaholic although i have finally finished my residency along with a two year fellowship. So now i am what they consider to be an acute care surgeon although my official job title is attending trauma surgeon."

"Doesn't that mean you specialize in both trauma and emergency general surgery?" Severide questioned.

"Impressive, i didn't think you'd know that as when most people ask what i do i have to simplify it and tell them that i'm a trauma surgeon, which is true and simpler to say…" Serena chuckled and Severide had decided not to tell her how he knew what fellowship she had done because that would do nothing but stir up trouble and open up a can of worms which he wanted to remain firmly shut.

"So how long are you going to be around? I'm assuming that it'll only be a couple of days because of work?" Severide asked and Serena's jaw hardened which Severide took to be a not a good side and she didn't say anything for a few moments and when she did, it was only to order to another round of beers and a short of tequila.

"Actually more than a few days this time, I'm going to be for a few months at least as Frosty the Ice Queen is sick." Serena finally announced and Severide knew she was talking about her mother as Serena nicknamed her mother a variety of nicknames like Frosty the Ice Queen or the Iron Bitch because of her mother's typical cold and harsh demeanor. The two had never really gotten on and Serena had moved in with her dad when she was fourteen as their relationship was that bad.

"Sick?"

"Yep, lentigo maligna melanoma…" Serena said and Severide had no idea what she said, whilst he had some medical training it wasn't enough to even begin to try and realize what Serena had just said. "It's skin cancer Kelly."

"Rocket i'm so sorry…" Severide began until he noticed Serena shaking her head.

"Don't be Kelly, whilst it's pretty bad she's not a complete write off yet as the cancer is treatable and Frosty has a very good chance of survival although it's was bad enough that the senator called and asked me to come home. Well… It was more like he told me to come home and you can imagine how well that went down." Serena replied wearily laughing before downing the shot of tequila, similar to her relationship with her mother, Serena had an equally bad relationship with her step-father who she just called the senator. So when like the 'Senator' who Serena hated and had no respect for told someone like Serena who didn't like to be told what to, sent demands her way things weren't going to end well. Severide wasn't even going to ask what happened either way it ended up with Serena being here next to him.

"You need anything, you know you can always come to me right?" Severide stated as although they had left things on a bit of a rocky patch three years ago, he wanted Serena to know that he was always there for her.

I do." Serena replied, this time with an actual smile not one that she had forced on one that she had been using for much of the conversation.

"I've missed you." Severide said and Serena just sighed.

"You don't think i missed you Kelly? Of course i did… But you know that we did the right thing, after what happened Kelly we needed to take a break from each other and have some distance between us. Just because of what happened three years, doesn't mean we ever stopped being friends Kelly. I know the silence over the last three years haven't exactly showed that but–"

"–I'm sorry too." Severide interrupted and Serena smiled as she stood up from her seat.

"I should probably get going."

"Why?" Severide questioned as the two of them had barely been talking for an hour and given that this was the first time that they had talked in three years, Severide knew they had barely scratched the service when it came to the two of them catching up. Not to mention the inevitable conversation about why they fell out all those years ago was bound to come up again at some point.

"Why?" Severide questioned as the two of them had barely been talking for an hour and given that this was the first time that they had talked in three years, Severide knew they had barely scratched the surface when it came to the two of them catching up. Not to mention the inevitable conversation about why they fell out all those years ago was bound to come up again at some point.

"I have something's to take care of not to mention i have work tomorrow so there's that too." Serena explained.

"Work? You've found a job already?" Severide asked in surprise although some part of him wasn't surprised as other people called her Rocket because of how fast she moved. So if anyone could get a new job in days then it would be his Rocket.

"Not exactly, i'm working per diem at the moment until i find something a little permanent."

"There's a hospital not too far from the station, Lakeshore… You know i could see if they're looking for a trauma surgeon and if so i put in a good word for you." Severide offered and he was surprised when Serena kissed his cheek before walking away. Turning in his seat Severide watched as she walked away from him without looking back, Serena had a habit of wordlessly walking away which Severide had always found to be very annoying. Despite it being three years since they had last seen each other it seemed like little time had passed as Serena was making them fall into old habits and already starting to drive him crazy.


	3. Chapter 3

Kelly Severide sat in the garage of Firehouse 51 surrounded by fellow members of squad at their designated squad only table, the rest house were scatted throughout the place although he could hear Shay getting into an argument with Mouch about god knows that, probably stupid knowing the two of them. Today's shift had been pretty light so far, although Severide knew better than to ever say this aloud. It was a well known fact between all firefighters, not just cfd that you never commented on how quiet the shift may or may not have been and you definitely did not mention the time because if you did the next thing you know you were getting called out to the first of many calls. Hence why everyone knew better than to say things had been very quiet today, despite them all knowing it. Flicking through the magazine that he was quickly losing interest in, Kelly quickly put it down when he saw Serena walking into the garage.

"Hey Dr. Rocket…" Kelly said leaning back in his chair with a grin plastered all over his face, he was very happy to see to Serena as she was the perfect and very much welcome distraction for his boredom.

"Right back at you Lt. Severide." Serena quipped.

"So what brings you here to my neck of the woods?" Kelly asked as he got up from his seat and walked over to Serena.

"Well i wanted to talk with you and I know better than to come to a fire house empty handed so i brought food for everyone… Just so you know it's my lasagna." Serena quipped as she handed over the bag of food that she had brought in with her, which just pleased Kelly even more as he adored Serena's cooking on the rare occasions that she actually cooked. His seemingly mediocre day was brightening up considerably all thanks to his favourite Rocket.

"And what merits Serena McArthur's famous lasagna? You don't like cooking much Rocket so what gives?" Kelly asked and Serena just rolled her eyes at the comment about her cooking.

"Not once have i ever stated that i don't like cooking, i just don't have the time to cook since i am a very busy person Kelly which makes it more convenient for me to order to take out and buy food frequently for deli's. But i am a great cook, that is when i chose to cook…" Serena retorted and Kelly just laughed. "So what exactly did you do Kelly?"

"What do you mean Rocket?" Kelly asked.

"Don't give me that Kelly, you know exactly what i'm talking about without me even having to say it. I can see it on your face, especially your eyes which are twinkling with mischief. A sure sign that you've been up to no good Kelly Severide." Serena retorted and despite knowing full well what Serena was talking about Kelly chose to feign ignorance as he loved winding her up and watching her squirm.

"Rocket, i really have no idea what your talking about." Kelly lied.

"Really? So you have no idea that two days ago i got a call from the chief of surgery at Lakeshore who offered me over the phone a job as an attending trauma surgeon? Apparently my reputation in dealing with traumas and my skills as a surgeon speaks for itself not to mention i come highly recommended and Lakeshore would be honored to have Rocket McArthur on it's staff." Serena questioned and Kelly knew that he was busted,

"Okay so i made one or two calls and spoke to the chief of trauma surgery but it's all true, your a great surgeon Rocket–" Kelly began.

"Of course i know that's true, Kelly i'm a surgeon which means i'm narcissistic and arrogant bastards with a god complex but you made me sound like i was James Duke." Serena replied.

"Who?"

"Dr. James Duke Jr, nicknamed Red who is quite possibly the most brilliant and famous trauma surgeon there ever was. Seriously i went to one of his lectures once and it blew me away. He is a trauma god, he is my trauma god." Serena explained and it just caused Kelly to laugh.

"Your funny Rocket but seriously i just wanted to do you a favor after everything you've done for me and call this a bit selfish but you being at Lakeshore means i get see you more often. I've missed you these last couple of years and you being around more would be great considering everything…" Kelly admitted as he was still having a hard time coping with Darden's death and to deal with that he was surrounding himself constantly with people. And Kelly wanted one of those people to be Serena. He didn't realize how much he had missed her when she was gone until now, when she was standing here next to him going on about some guy he'd never heard about. That was the thing about Serena McArthur, she had this ability to make Kelly feel like he was important and worth something whenever the two of them were together. To Serena he wasn't Kelly Severide, the womanizing firefighter he was just Kelly, although occasionally he was the Kelly the major jackass but that was only when he had really pissed her off.

"You sentimental old fool." Serena said gently nudging Kelly in the ribs.

"Don't pretend like you haven't missed it Rocket." Kelly quipped and he could see Serena was trying her hardest not to smile.

"Maybe. I don't know, you'll have to get a couple of drinks down my throat before i'll even think about admitting to something like that Kelly Severide."

Kelly couldn't help but smirk. "Maybe i will… How about we grab a couple of drinks after my shift is over and we'll try and see if i can't bring out the old sentimental idiot in you too."

"Would love to trust, you know i'm never one to turn down a drink but i've got to work, i'm on call for the night shift which means working from 7pm to 7am if not longer depending on the amount of surgeries i have." Serena said with a small frown and Kelly could see that she was annoyed about working instead of being able to go out drinking with him.

"Your working already?" Kelly asked in surprise as that was rather quick given that Serena had only been offered the job two days ago.

"Not till the day after tomorrow, today is my last per diem shift at Northwestern and after that I will officially be a attending trauma hospital at Lakeshore."

"Northwestern, huh?"

"Yeah i'm giving up working at Northwestern for you Kelly Severide so you owe me big time buddy and trust me when i say i intend to collect." Serena quipped before leaning up and pressing a kiss to Kelly's cheek.

"Call me later?"

"Make me." Serena retorted before walking away and Kelly watched as she walked out of the garage, laughing at the absurdity that was Serena McArthur. How the two of them had become friends was beyond him but he was sure as hell glad that they were.

"–Hey… was that Serena? She's still in town? I thought she would have gone back to Boston already."

Kelly looked to his right and saw Shay standing there beside him, Shay knew Serena through him although they hadn't seen each other in a while due to Serena leaving town for a while. "Yeah it was, she came over because she wanted to thank me for something and she brought food along with her."

"Oh? So what did she want to thank you for?" Shay questioned.

"I found out that she was going to be in town for a few months that's all and i may have hooked her up with a job at Lakeshore. It was the least i could do…" Kelly replied.

"Really? And it wouldn't have anything to do with the fact that she's single at the moment and so are you?" Shay questioned and Kelly could see where Shay was going to go with this, given that she always went to that place when it came to him and Serena.

"Serena and I are just friends, we've always just been friends and that it's it. I was just doing her a favor like I'd do for you, there's nothing more to it Shay." Kelly stated with a small shake of his head, as Shay was reading into something that wasn't there.

"Oh c'mon Kelly it has never been that simple, the two of you have always been a little more than friends and i'm not just talking about the flirting or the lingering looks. The two of you have had on and off feelings for each other ever since that day you met." Shay said referring to how Kelly and Serena met when she was doing an ER rotation when she was in med school and the two of them literally crashed into each other after Serena had helped save the life of some guy he had brought in.

"Okay i admit that it is true but it's no big deal Shay…" Kelly said waving Shay's observation off.

"No big deal? Kelly you were in love with Serena three years ago, you even went to Boston to tell her how you feel!" Shay stated and Kelly didn't say anything to that because he knew it was true. At some point three and a half years ago he had fallen in love with Serena which had been a long time coming according to Shay but then the two of had fallen out due to something happening between the two of them and she had gone to Boston. It took Kelly two slow weeks to finally get his act together and realise he didn't want to loose her and so he went up to Boston to tell Serena how he felt.

"Look i know i was in love with Rocket at one point and after i went to Boston and saw her happy she was i realised it was never meant to be. If Serena and i were meant to be together than we would have gotten together years ago, instead we always had feelings for each other when the other one was unavailable. The two of us are better of as friends Shay and that's all we're going to be this time…"


	4. Chapter 4

Standing at the ER admin desk updating a a chart on a patient that she had just finished examining for suspected appendicitis, who could be treated with antibiotics instead of surgery Serena was about to pick up a new chart when her hand was slapped away. Turning to her right Serena saw that the person responsible was Nurse Emma Perry, an ER nurse who was also new friend of Serena who shared her love of tequila and dancing until the early hours of the morning. Anyone who shared Serena's views on tequila and dancing was considered a friend for life especially if they worked with her as there was nothing Serena liked doing better than going to a bar after a hard shift and bitching about the downsides of her job. It was especially fun when she went with nurses as they always had the best stories to tell not to mention Serena had known ever since her med school days that staying on their good side was a necessity.

"Emma I promise you I was not choosing the most interesting patient in the rack, I was about to pick up the chart at the front." Serena said, she was covering the ER today and since she hadn't had a trauma case in a couple of hours she was treating regular patients until something came her way. Serena had covered the ER plenty of times in different hospital to know that they all worked in the same way especially when it came to new patients and charts. You never went through the charts and picked up the most interesting case, you always picked up the first chart.

"That's not why I wanted your attention Serena."

"Then what did you want Emma as I've got patients to see…" Serena murmured as she picked up a new chart and glanced over it to see who her newest patient was and what was their chief complaint.

"Always the good doctor but forget about your patients for a second Serena and check out the drop dead gorgeous firefighter talking to Mr. Dumphy, he is smoking hot… Just wow!" Emma replied in a dreamy tone of voice and rolling her eyes in amusement at the awful 'smoking hot firefighter' cliche that she had heard god knows how many ties. Despite this Serena found herself looking up from her chart to check out this so called drop dead gorgeous firefighter to see that it was Kelly. Not that she was too surprised, whilst Serena may be just friends with Kelly she wasn't stupid nor was she blind. She knew he was very good looking as did he.

"Hot firefighters name is Lt. Kelly Severide, he works rescue squad 3 and is based over at firehouse 51."

"You know him?!" Emma demanded.

"That I do, we go back to my med school days and I'd quit drooling Em, because he's off limits." Serena idly said as she re read the chart in her hands, her new patient had a pencil embedded in the middle of their hand. That's what Serena loved about covering the ER, always came across such interesting people and even more interesting injuries.

"Oh really? So just how long have you and the hot Lt. Severide been seeing each other and why am I only hearing about this now Dr. McArthur?" Emma asked and it took Serena a moment before she finally registered the question that Emma had just asked her.

"Me and Kelly? N-No… We are not together, not in the slightest?" Serena said shaking her head more times then it was actually necessary but she wanted Emma to know that her and Kelly were just friends and always had been.

"So he has a girlfriend?" Emma asked.

"Not as far as I know".

"Then why exactly is he off limits?" Emma pushed narrowing her eyes at her friend and Serena bit her lip, if she had just said that Kelly had a girlfriend that Emma would have dropped. But because of her big mouth this was becoming a thing when it wasn't even thing to begin with.

"Because I say so." Serena said hoping that Emma would just leave it at that but a part of her knew that the chances of that were pretty slim. So instead she hoped that a big bloody and gory trauma would burst through the doors in the next ten seconds to save her from answering anymore of Emma's question.

"Now I'm intrigued McArthur, you say that your just friends but he's off limits to me for reasons why you can't explain to me. There's something that your not telling me about you and the gorgeous Lt. Severide and I want to know what it is. Are you in love with him? Is that it?" Emma asked her eyes lighting up with excitement and Serena just sighed, like she had predicted this had blown out of proportion.

"No."

Emma let a loud gasp. "You hesitated!"

"No I didn't, there was no hesitation in the slightest Nurse Perry." Serena retorted.

"Yes you did, I asked you whether you were in love with Lt. Severide and you hesitated! You hesitated for a good thirty seconds before you finally answered me Dr. McArthur. The reason why you said he was off limits is because you're in love with him!" Emma replied in a very cheerful manner.

"Emma I am telling right you now that I am not in love with Kelly, things are just complicated."

"Does complicated involve sex?" Emma asked and Serena could feel her cheeks burning up the moment Emma basically asked if she had ever slept with Kelly and her bright red cheeks immediately gave her away. "Oh my god! You had sex with him! You had sex with a firefighter, I am so proud of you Serena!"

"Will you keep it down?!" Serena hissed as Emma had said that last part a bit louder than she really should have and the last thing that Serena wanted was people at her new place of employment knowing about her sex life. Or rather people she had slept with.

"Rocket?"

Things had just went from bad to worse as Serena looked up to see Kelly looking at her with an amused grin on his face and he said a couple of more thing to Mr. Dumphy before making his way over to her. Serena wanted strangle Emma in this exact moment as they were so busted as there was no way it was a coincidence that he had spotted her just after Emma had figured out that she had slept with Kelly and then said it out loud for the entire ER to hear. Serena forced a smile on her face before turning to Emma. "Now he's seen us! Are you happy?!"

"Very! Because now I get to meet him!" Emma retorted and all Serena could do was laugh and hope that this was over pretty quickly.

"I thought that was you Rocket!"

"Of course it's me Kelly, I do work here after all or can't you see my id and fancy lab coat." Serena said pointing to her lab coat which had yet to be vomited on or have someone else's blood on it today but the day was still young.

"I can and it's very nice and white." Kelly said as he took a step closer and grabbed a hold of Serena's lab coat and she watched a smile grace his face as studied her lab coat. Serena looked down to see what he was staring at and when she realised what he was looking she knew he'd never let her hear the end of it. "And what do you know? It even says Rocket on it."

Serena glanced down at her lab coat thanks to Kelly and his phone calls, when she had arrived at Lakeshore and collected her lab coat she had found that not only did it have her name and credentials stitched on it but also a little something else. It read Serena 'Rocket' McArthur M.D. F.A.C.S. Serena would have made a smart ass comment in response but she realised that Emma was with still with her and watching the two of them interact so she took a step back. "Kelly I'd like you to meet a friend of mine, Nurse Emma Perry she works down here in the ER and Emma this is Lt. Kelly Severide of the chicago fire department."

"Pleasure."

"Likewise Lt. Severide, Serena here has been telling me all about you." Emma said and Serena would have glared at her if it wouldn't make things apparently obvious to Kelly. She needed to nip this conversation in the bud before it got any further.

"Is that so? And what exactly has Rocket been telling you about me?" Kelly asked in intreats and Serena knew she had to shut the conversation down now.

You'll never know Kelly as Emma is leaving us right now to set up a stutter kit for me in exam room 4, isn't that right Nurse Perry?" Serena asked, all but gritting her teeth together.

"Yes I am Dr. McArthur, it was nice to meet you Lt. Severide." Emma replied with a sweet smile before walking away but as she did, Emma mouthed 'I want details' to Serena which made her shake her head. There was no way she was telling Emma anymore than she had said already.

"So what brings you to my neck of the woods Kelly?" Serena asked moving things swiftly along in order to prevent Kelly from asking more about Emma as the last thing Serena needed or wanted was the two of them hooking up.

"That guy Mr. Dumphy? Pulled him out of a fire in the early hours of the morning and I found out later that one of his brother's died in a fire five years ago, guy's just come home from a tour of duty so I figured that i'd quickly pop in and check on him on the way back to the station." Kelly explained and Serena couldn't help but smile, it was a very nice thing to do. "Plus it gave me an excuse to come and see you Rocket."

"Come and see me huh? I might have not been working today Severide." Serena quipped in amusement she liked the fact that Kelly came down not only to check in on someone he rescued but to also see if he could catch her.

"I know which is why I called Finn on the way over, I figured he'd know whether you'd be working a shift given that your crashing with him at the moment." Kelly replied and Serena couldn't believe that he had actually called one of her brothers to see whether she's be working today. "So you didn't call me after you stopped by the firehouse last week."

"I meant to but i've just been busy with–" Serena began.

"–Work? Your telling me that you couldn't have picked up the phone once during that entire week?" Kelly sceptically questioned.

"Frosty had her operation. That's why I didn't have a chance to call you, it's not that I wasn't going to call it's just that I literally had no time, if I wasn't here at work then I was at Northwestern or the Senator's mansion dealing with her and my family. The only time I had after that was to sleep..." Serena said with a sigh.

"Oh." Kelly awkwardly replied.

"But if I'd had known that you'd be waiting by the phone the entire week waiting for me to call then I would have found a way to call you Kelly." Serena quipped poking Kelly in the stomach for extra

"So how is she? Your mom, I mean…" Kelly questioned and Serena sighed and shrugged her shoulders.

"Cancer is turning her into an even bigger bitch than usual, I know my mom is pretty over dramatic most of the time and she's got cancer so she can play the cancer card to get sympathy but bloody hell it's like she's going for the academy award. The other day I had a fifteen year old boy come in with a raptured spleen and the operation went smoothly until we noticed a mass on his liver. Turns out it was cancer and I was in the room when he was told about the cancer and he didn't upset or mad, he just looked at us and asked what the next step was in beating this cancer. I wish my mother was like that but no she wants us all by her side constantly, acting like she's going to die when the surgeon got pretty much all the tumour and she has very good survical rate. I was to like mom we'll be here as much as when can but we all have careers and we can't just take off an undetermined amount of leave. That didn't go down too well but I reminded her that the Senator isn't sitting by her bedside day and night, he's going to work. You can Imagine how well that went down…" Serena wearily said.

"I'm sorry about all of this."

"Don't be Kelly, there is no way that my mom is dying of cancer as that would mean she would be off my case about everything I do and there's no way that's ever going to happen." Serena said waving off Kelly's concern off her mother as it wasn't needed and it could probably go to someone who actually needed it. "So how are you?"

Kelly sighed. "When are you going to stop asking me that Rocket?"

"I'll stop asking when you give me a proper answer Kelly." Serena replied because she was worried about him, he had lost his best friend who he had worked with and very shift Kelly went back to the place where he had one of his last moments with Andy. She just needed to know that he was okay.

"How about I'll give you a proper answer tomorrow night over dinner if your not working? What do you say to to that Rocket?" Kelly questioned.

"And by dinner I take it you mean pizza and beers?" Serena questioned with a smirk as in the years she had known Kelly, she had only seen him cook several times. He was an awful like her when it came to cooking, they both knew how to they just chose not to do it on a daily basis.

"Of course, unless your willing to cook?"

"Don't count on it Severide." Serena retorted.

"So pizza it is, look I've gotta head back to the station but call me whenever and by that I mean within the next twenty four hours Rocket so we can finalise things." Kelly stated as he took a couple of steps backwards.

"My shift ends at seven this evening so unless I'm in survey the latest I will call you is seven thirty tonight, I promised. You know what Severide I'll even pinky promise that." Serena adamantly stated as she held out her pinky and Kelly linked up his pinky with hers and they both shook on it.

"I'll be waiting by the phone." Kelly joked as he made a phone gesture with his hand and held up to his ears as he continued to walk backwards, he did it for a couple of more steps before finally turning around and heading towards the ER doors. Serena couldn't help but laugh, there was something about Kelly Severide that did these things to her. Picking up the chart that she had placed on the admin desk so she could talk to Kelly, Serena made her way down the ER hallway in order to make her way to exam room 4 to treat the guy with pencil in his hand. On her way Serena passed by Emma who was taking the vitals of an elderly patient who smirked at her.

"McArthur who are you kidding? You are so into him…"


	5. Chapter 5

Serena sat in a stiff hospital chair idly flicking through her mother's copy of the most recent addition of Vanity Fair as she half paid attention to the conversation her mother was having with three of her brother's Hayden, Rory and Finley. Whilst their mother's operation had been a success she still needed chemotherapy and immunotherapy to treat her cancer. So being the good daughter that she was, or rather wasn't Serena was here at the hospital with three of her brothers to support their mother whilst she received the first of her chemo. Serena had been very patient with her mother given what today meant, not rolling her eyes or sighing in exasperation when her mother asked Serena to check her chart and see if the doctors were giving her the right medicine and the correct doses. Serena did this for her mother twice whilst explaining to her mother that she was a trauma surgeon not an oncologist and this was not her area of expertise.

"It's such a beautiful day outside…" Nora or as Serena referred to her frequently Frosty the Ice Queen noted as she glanced over to the window. Serena had to admit that her mother did have a point, it was indeed a very beautiful day in the windy city. Shame they all had to be inside…

"Don't worry mom, we'll get you out of here soon enough and then we can go enjoy the day." Rory McArthur said leaning forward to squeeze his mother's hand.

"I just wish that I didn't have to be sitting here getting this chemotherapy treatment, Dr. Wilshire said that the cancer was gone."

"That's not what he said mom, Dr. Wilshire said that he had got most of the cancer and just because you had surgery to remove the cancer that doesn't mean your automatically in remission. There are still some cancerous cells in your body hence the chemo, I know it doesn't seem like it but you being here is for your benefit. The chemo is killing off the cancer cells to stop them from multiplying and spreading further in your body. It sucks but along with the immunotherapy your odd of going to remission are higher." Serena coolly replied as she began to read an article about Martin Scorsese.

"I'd trust Serena on this mom, after she is the doctor in the family…" Hayden added.

"I do but I just wish that your sister didn't have to be so cold about it! You'd think she'd be able to turn off that cold exterior of hers for a moment to spare me an ounce of sympathy." Nora replied and it took a few seconds for Serena to realize what had just happened. Her mother was calling her cold? Frosty the Ice Queen was calling her cold? Hell was surely freezing over because of that comment. Serena may call her mother Frosty the Ice Queen but there was no way she was Snowflake the Ice Princess.

"Sorry about that Nora it's just that I am a surgeon and we are known for our icy cold demeanor and being emotionally distant." Serena quipped looking up from her magazine and giving her mother her best and brightest smile.

"I would believe that sweetheart if you hadn't been behaving this way ever since you were twelve." Nora replied and Serena felt a twinge of annoyance although that was nothing new given that her mother had been annoying her since she was twelve. The two of them were no normal mother and daughter, instead of going on shopping trips and spending quality time together, Nora and Serena antagonized each other and their respective lifestyles and choices.

"And who do we–" Serena began, more than willing to ask her mother who was to blame for apparent cold behaviour. However she was distracted by her phone going off and pulling it out of her jacket pocket Serena saw that she had just received a text message from Kelly. Either the guy was a mind reader or Kelly had perfect timing either way Serena was grateful from the distraction from her mother.

"What's suddenly made you so happy?" Finley asked Serena from where he sat on the other side of their mother's bed.

"Nothing… I'm just happy to be with my family that's all." Serena lied.

"Oh really?" Hayden questioned as he plucked Serena's phone from out of her hand and glanced over at the screen, an arrogant smirk appearing on his face as he saw who she had just received a text from. "You dirty liar… Kelly Severide, eh? I didn't know you were back in contact with him but that explains that grin on your face."

"Kelly Severide? Wow that's a name we haven't heard in a while… Just how long has it been Finn?" Rory asked and Serena just sighed, if she thought Emma was bad about this Kelly thing her brothers were ten times worse. And they didn't even know that Serena and Kelly had slept together.

"Three years or so?" Finley replied in bemusement.

Serena let out a fake cheery laugh, being the youngest of five children and having four older brothers she was used to this kind of teasing. This has been her entire childhood and teenage years and then some. Her brothers were thick as thieves and always ganging up on her, or as they would say attempting to teach her some humility. "You know this stopped being funny when I was nineteen."

"So you and Kelly, huh? What's that about?" Rory asked.

"According to this text message the two of them are getting together tonight and Kelly is really looking forward to it." Hayden quipped and Serena rose from her seat and snatched her phone back from her brothers. They were all so damn nosy and never had anything better to do than going through her personal life outside the family.

"Really?

"It's not what you morons think, Kelly is just coming over to Finn's place to have some pizza and beers so we can catch up. We haven't seen each other much since I came home and I thought it would be nice for the two of us to catch up. Seeing as I was away from three years and then the moment I get back Kelly manages to get me a job with one phone call. We have a lot of things to talk about, even more so after everything that happened with Andy. I lost a friend but Kelly lost a best friend so I want to be there for him be it hanging out with pizza and beer." Serena explained and her brothers seemed to believe although there was nothing for them to really believe as she was telling the truth.

"Whose Kelly Severide?" Nora asked.

"C'mon mom you've met Kelly plenty of times, him and Serena have been friends since her last year of med school. You know his dad too in an abstract was, Benny Severide? Him and dad were at the academy at the same time and you occasionally saw him at events for the department." Hayden explained to their mother much to Serena's dismay as the expression on Nora's face made it clear that she remembered who exactly Kelly Severide was.

"Oh the firefighter…" Nora noted in dismay.

Serena sighed, that was her mother's typical reaction to anything that involved the Chicago fire department or firefighting in general. Serena had noticed that ever since her mother had divorced her father, her mother acted like being a firefighter was the same as being a war criminal. Part of the reason why Serena nicknamed her mother Frosty was due to the irony of her mother being so uptight and frigid despite having been married to a firefighter. "Yes mom, the firefighter…"

"I do hope your not dating this Severide boy Serena…"

"And what's that supposed to mean mom? That dating a firefighter is beneath me or not worthy of being associated with this family? Because I have to remind you that two of your sons are firefighters and as you well know considering that you used to be one of us that the McArthur family have a long line of firefighters." Serena demanded feeling herself getting riled up, there was something about her mother and firefighters being mentioned in the same conversation that managed to push her buttons. Like she had said before, there was a reason why she was called Rocket.

"Serena, she didn't mean it like that and you know it." Hayden attempted to assure Serena in an attempt to calm her down.

"Would it really be such a bad thing if I were dating this boy? Whilst we're on the subject of it… I've spent my entire life surrounded by firefighters would it be such a bad thing if I ended up marrying one?" Serena questioned very much interested in the conversation now to the point where she put down the issue of Vanity Fair. "You married a firefighter!"

"And look how well that turned out." Nora pointed out, no needing to remind anyone that she had left her children's father when Serena was eleven years old and divorced him six months later.

"Well I'm not dating Kelly, I'm just his friend although that must be a foreign concept to you. But speaking of your marriages… Where's the Senator mom? You're here in the hospital and I would have expected him to be by your bedside as most of your children are. Hayden came here straight from finishing a shift, Rory is here during his lunch break, I took the day off work as did Finley and you know how hard it is for an air traffic controller to get the day off at a moments notice." Serena questioned.

"Serena will you please stop calling him that? Whilst it was amusing many years ago you are no longer a teenager and your stepfather does have an actual name!"

"Yeah I know it's The Senator and your Mrs. Nora Senator." Serena quipped which caused her mother to frown whilst her brothers laughed, they too called their stepfather 'The Senator' but they only didn't behind his back. Unlike Serena who openly called their stepfather the senator to his face. Although thinking about it Serena was quite glad her stepfather wasn't here as he'd no doubt call her out on her supposedly rude and disrespectful towards her mother.

To which Serena would most likely respond with a sarcastic response which would get her into as much trouble as thirty two year old woman could get in with her stepfather. Whilst she was well aware of the fact her mother had cancer, Serena didn't give her mother special treatment or acted any differently to her mother because of the cancer because of her mother expected her not to. Serena knew her mother secretly thrived on the bizarre relationship they shared with each other.

"Oh Serena grow up! If we are going to have a tedious conversation then let's talk about this boy of yours…"


	6. Chapter 6

Serena lazily lay across her brothers couch with her feet propped up in Kelly's lap, the two of them were hanging out as per their dinner arrangements which consisted of pizza and beers as Serena couldn't be asked to cook and she didn't trust Kelly to not give them food poisoning. But apart from that it was nice for the two of them to be hanging out like old times and enjoying each others company, it was something that Serena had missed when she had been away. And it wasn't just Kelly that Serena had missed but it was everything else that she left here in Chicago when she had gone to Boston, such as the food - Serena was a sucker for a good old fashioned chicago hot dog. During the three years Serena had spent in Boston she had missed her friends and family not to mention the sports. Made Serena all the more glad that she was back home where she belonged.

"So guess who I got a phone call from this morning?" Serena asked before taking a swing of her beer and Kelly just looked her with a blank expression which caused her to chuckle in amusement. "Your dad."

"My dad called you?" Kelly asked in surprise.

"Yes indeed, Benny called me and we had a very nice conversation for twenty minutes and your dad told me that he was very happy to hear that I've come home as I was away for far too long. Also promised to take me out to dinner the next time he's in town visiting which I'm very looking forward to you, as I love Papa Severide he's great…" Serena replied using her nickname for Kelly's dad which he answered to when she addressed him as such.

"Benny adores you too Rocket, in fact my dad thinks that you are the greatest thing to have ever come into my life and he never allows me to forget it." Kelly retorted and Serena just beamed, she liked the fact that Papa Severide thought so highly of her. "I find it amazing that my dad called you today and i haven't heard a peep out of him in weeks, clearly he likes you more than me.

"Well he is right about that, I am the best thing that has ever happened to you and whilst it may be true at least you've made your dad proud, my mom is so disappointed with me and how I turned out. The only thing she's proud of is the fact that I didn't join the fire department in some capacity given that I came from a family that has three generations of firefighters. Frosty knew that there way a good chance at least one of my brothers would follow my dad's footsteps and join the fire department so she wasn't that surprised when Callum and Hayden had announced that they had applied to the academy. Although she was disappointed as she was hoping that she'd be proven wrong however she was pleased that Rory and Finn chose different career paths. Then there's me."

"C'mon Rocket you're a surgeon, what parent would not love to have a a doctor in the family?" Kelly questioned as he gently hit Serena's leg.

"A doctor yes but not a trauma surgeon, my mother would have preferred it if I became an oncologist or cardiologist because there's a lot of money in it and she could brag to her friends all about her daughter the world class specialist. If i went into one of those specialties I could make a name for myself, have my own practice and all that jazz. There's no future in trauma surgery according to my mother and I'll end up alone with no money or husband with just my scapulas for company. Whenever my career comes up my mom asks why couldn't I have become something else like an OB/GYN." Serena said with a sigh as she took another swing of her beer.

"OB/GYN really?" Kelly sceptically questioned.

"I know right? I remember one time my mom brought it up over dinner and I said to my mom there is nothing wrong with being an OB/GYN as it's a very worthwhile profession. And my gynaecologist is a very nice man but delivering babies and looking after vaginas isn't exactly what I wanted do with my life which is why I didn't become one. My mom went mental that I said vagina over the dinner table and I had to give the Senator the heimlich as he chocked on a piece of asparagus, it was so terrible but so funny…" Serena said with a small chuckle.

"You are a terrible person." Kelly told her and Serena just rolled her eyes.

"And whose to blame for that?" Serena challenged looking at Kelly as ever since the first day he had come into her life he had become such a terrible influence on her. So if he was calling her terrible person then she was looking right at the person to blame for that as she was much more behaved woman until she met Kelly Severide. He was the guy who convinced her to come on a trip with him, Andy and some other friends to Tijuana claiming that it was going to be a nice fun surfing trip with no trouble. Back then Serena was twenty severn and wasn't immune to the beautiful blue eyes and charms of one Kelly Severide and so she believed him. The trip was fun, Serena wouldn't deny that but the no trouble part? Not so much. Serena didn't speak to both Andy and Kelly for a week after that trip.

"Okay I accept some fault…."

"Some fault? Really?" Serena teased.

"But seriously Rocket, why did you chose trauma?" Kelly asked and Serena sat properly, removing her feet from Kelly's lap but sitting on the couch cross-legged facing him.

"I chose trauma because of the uncertainty it holds, every time I get paged I don't what's going to be waiting for me in the ER could be a stabbing, shooting or flesh eating diseases. But I'm always prepared because the unexpected is what I'm trained for and what I thrive on. I like the blood and the cutting and knowing that I am trained to be able to work not only in traumas but traumatic situations, I've had disaster training and I've been called some harrowing scenes. I remember this horrible five car pile up that happened the day I found out I had passed my final boards and was now a certified acute care surgeon. They needed trauma a surgeon in the field and the Chief of Surgery at my hospital sent me as reward for making him so proud. When I arrived at the scene it was horrific and for a few seconds I froze because I was overwhelmed for some reasons. But then I was fine, I knew what I needed to do–"

"–And then Rocket was off…" Kelly finished.

"Exactly, I'm an adrenaline junkie as you are which is why you spend your days playing fireman and running into burning buildings and being a hero." Serena quipped as looked at Kelly and she couldn't help but smile, being here with Kelly was just like old times expect for the fact that they were at Finn's apartment instead the dives bars that they practically used to spend all their free time at. "I missed you so much when I was gone, you know that right?"

"I missed you too Serena." Kelly replied and Serena knew he was being serious when he called her by her actual name instead of Rocket. In the eight years that Serena McArthur had know Kelly Severide and he had been calling her Rocket, she could only recall him calling her Serena just over two dozen times.

"Then talk to me Kelly, you promised me that if we had dinner together than you'd give me a proper answer about how you've been doing since Andy died. You've been putting on this front for everyone else Kelly but you have never been able to fool me. I have always been able to see you clearly Kelly and I know that your not fine so talk to me, please…"

"Serena…" Kelly began and Serena saw his adam's apple bob up and down several times as he swallowed a lump in his throat. She knew this was going to be hard for him given that Andy was his best friend but he needed to actual talk to some instead of giving the fire department's shrink the same old cock and bull story that everyone else gave.

"Take as long as you need Kelly I'm not going anywhere, I've got all the time in the world for you."


	7. Chapter 7

Kelly Severide had a problem and that problem was that he was unable to say no to one Serena McArthur, for some reason anytime she asked him for something he couldn't help but say yes even though he knew he shouldn't because of his shoulder. But he was a complete and utter sucker for those green eyes of hers which lately seemed to be able to convince him of anything. Which is how he ended up helping her move. Serena had called him a few days ago and told him that she was finally moving into her own place and needed help moving in and asked if he could help. Being unable to say no to Serena McArthur resulted in Kelly agreeing to help her move on a sunday when he had better things to do with his time. When Kelly had arrived at the building that Serena was going be living in he saw that she had recruited several others to help her move in. Kelly wasn't surprised that he recognized everyone who was standing by the moving truck outside Serena's new apartment building as they were all firefighters except for her two brothers Rory and Finley. No doubt Serena or her dad had called in a few favors for today with the family given that the moving truck read McArthur family movers. Like most firefighters, Serena's family specifically her brothers Hayden and Callum had a second job which was that of movers.

"Well look what the cat or rather Serena dragged in; Kelly Severide, it's been a long while." Finley McArthur began and Kelly made his way over to shake his hand. Finley was second youngest of Chief McArthur's children but one of Serena's four older brothers.

"It's good to see you too Finn, just wish it wasn't because your sister was forcing us to help us move." Kelly honestly replied as he got on well with all of Serena's brothers, they were great guys especially when it come to ganging up and teasing Serena relentlessly which was one of Kelly's favourite pastimes

"Speak of the devil." Finley replied and Kelly looked behind him to see Serena walking out of the building, dressed in clothes that he didn't exactly deem suitable for moving furniture. It fact it looked like she was going out which was ridiculous as there was no way she was leaving them to do all the handwork. As when Kelly agreed to help Serena out he was kind of under the assumption that Serena would be there and helping them despite the fact that they'd be doing all the heavy work.

"So there's been a slight change of plan, I kind of have to go to work…" Serena sheepishly said.

"C'mon Serena, are you kidding me? I thought you said you took the day of work!" Hayden stated in mild annoyance as in Kelly's experience it was damn near impossible to be angry with Serena for longer than an hour. "There's no way I'm carrying up all this furniture if I don't get to see you attempt to move some of this furniture and be that terrible at it that we have to save you!"

"I did take the day of work but I got a page and I called them back to say I'm not on call and it turns out that

the attending on call whose covering the ER has had to go home because of a family emergency and they need me to come in and cover his shift as right now a forth year resident in charge who apparently way over her head." Serena replied with a small shrug of her shoulders, trying her hardest to look like she felt incredibly guilty over this when Kelly knew she was anything but.

"Go save lives baby girl, we got this…" Chief McArthur said.

"Really dad? Your don't mind?" Serena asked.

"Of course not, you go do what you need to go do and by the time you get home we'll have you all moved in sweetheart." Chief McArthur replied and Kelly watched as Serena beamed before walking over to her dad and placing a kiss on his cheek before handing over a set of keys.

"Thank you! There's beer in the fridge and money on the kitchen counter for pizza!" Serena called out before walking away and leaving the men to it and Kelly couldn't help but wearily look around. He wasn't too sure how he felt about being with Serena's family for the entire afternoon without her being here, It made Kelly slightly nervous.

With good reason it seemed, as it only took two dozen pieces of furniture being taken from the moving truck and into Serena's condone until her brothers began to question him and his relationship with Serena.

"So Kelly what's going on with you and our sister? Apparently you two have been hanging out quite a bit since the shrimp came back home." Callum asked as the two of them had just walked into Serena's condo after carrying her couch up several flights of stairs. There were boxed every where in the open plan kitchen and the only available space for the couch seemed to be on the other side of the room by the by the dining room table and chairs.

"Oh! You should seen the two of them looking all cosy together at my place last week, I walked in and I might as well have walked back out. They were literally ten minutes away from making out on my couch like a couple of teenagers!" Finley added which just set him and the rest of his brothers off much to Kelly's dismay as he had no idea how they could joke about their little sister's love life with their dad in the room.

"We're just friends." Kelly said as he began weaving through all the boxes on the floor to get to the furthest end of the living room whilst holding Serena's couch, his repose however caused Hayden to laugh and Rory to snort in amusement.

"Come on Kelly you can tell us as we all love Serena and Serena knows that otherwise we wouldn't be here shifting all this furniture up four flights of stairs whilst she doesn't have to lift a thing as she used work to get out of this." Hayden said trying to convince Kelly to confess to something that wasn't even true, exactly… Ah he adored Serena and loved her in a way that a friend would as he wasn't in love with her anymore.

"There's nothing going on with Serena and I, we're just friends." Kelly stated.

"That's too bad Severide." Chief McArthur absentmindedly said Severide was so caught off by this that he almost dropped the side of the couch that he was holding.

"We were always been convinced that the two of you were eventually bound to get together, in fact we thought you came pretty close to getting together but then Serena ended up dating the guy who was an accountant." Callum said expanding from where his father had left of before turning to his brother just as he and Kelly had put down the couch. "You guys what was the name of that guy Serena dated before she left for Boston? For the life of me I cannot remember it–"

"Richard and we called him Rich the Dick behind his back because he was so up himself and a bit of a dick." Rory provided for his brother which just set Callum off in hysterics much to Kelly's amusement.

"That's it! Rich the Dick, god I hated that tosser…"

"Join the club." Finn added.

"-Wait? You all hated Richard too?" Kelly asked as this was the first he was hearing about this and all four of Serena's brothers looked at him as if he had grown another head. Richard or Rich the Dick as the McArthur's referred to him as was Serena's boyfriend and the two of them had been dating when him and Serena had hooked up. Things kind of went downhill after that given that Serena had a boyfriend when they slept together and they had fallen out about it, well Serena had stopped talking to him, broke up with her boyfriend and moved to Boston. Andy had hated Richard as did Kelly although they may have been because during the time that Kelly had fallen in love with Serena…

"Of course we did, the guy was an utter toolbox and no way good enough for our little sister." Hayden stated and his brothers all murmured in agreement. "Nice to know you thought he was a jackass to Kelly...

"Do you remember when they broke up? Ten minutes after Serena had called dad to tell him what happened, he called us and told us to come over for dinner and bring steaks. We ended up having that barbecue to celebrate the fact that Rich the Dick was gone." Finley asked his brothers and they all started laughing and Kelly couldn't believe what they were hearing.

"Chief McArthur did you really do that?" Kelly asked.

"Severide you know it's Ed on the weekends and yes I did do that, Rich the Dick as my sons called him was not good enough for my daughter in the slightest and when Serena finally got rid of him I felt that I had to celebrate the fact that we'd never see him again." Chief McArthur explained and there was one thing Kelly was sure of in this moment; the entire McArthur family were down right crazy but they were crazy in a good way. They were always fun to be around and they clearly all loved each other, especially Serena.

"Does Serena know about that?

"God no and she never will Severide…" Chief McArthur stated with a shake of his head.

"Kelly you've seen Serena, if she ever found out about the barbecue and all the other stuff we've done to her previous boyfriends then she'd probably kill us. You do call her Rocket for a reason after all and that's because off her temper." Callum explained with a small shake of his head and Kelly realised Callum was right, Serena would literally blow a lid if she found out about any of this stuff.

Chief McArthur nodded in agreement with his sons before turning to Kelly. "You know you should ask her out Kelly."

"Who? Serena?"

"Kelly we're not romantics, between the five of us we barely have a romantic bone in our body but we're not blind, we all saw that you and Serena had a thing for each other ever since you two met but just couldn't get your acts together. One of you was always in a relationship until Serena moved to Boston and now your both here and you want our opinion? You and the little shrimp deserve each other and should make a go of things." Rory advised with a small smile and Kelly couldn't actually believe that conversation was happening.

"Judging by the gormless look on your face Kelly we've probably confused you so let me break it down, Serena is the youngest out of us all and we love her very much, well it's kind of hard not to. Anyway my point is that we're always going to think no one is good enough for Serena but if anyone is going be close enough then it's you Kelly, when you stop screwing around and get your act together of course." Hayden said managing to compliment and insult Kelly at the same time.

"Right back to work boys, promised your sister we'd have everything in before she got home and the sooner we finisher, the sooner we can start drinking!" Chief McArthur ordered and his sons all got up and followed him back out the condo whilst he trailed back at bit, he needed some time to digest everything he had just heard.

"Two years and they'll be married, I guarantee it…"

"I'll take that bet."


	8. Chapter 8

Taking a deep breath Serena stepped out of the elevator and made her way towards the main entrance of the hospital where the family of one of her patients was waiting for news about their loved one. Last night the patient was brought in serious condition and needed to go to the OR, the surgery had taken hours and Serena was exhausted. She needed a coffee, food and most importantly sleep after being on her feet for so long but first she needed to talk to the family. It was easy for Serena to spot the wife of her patient because she was surrounded by several people who Serena recognized and knew such as Leslie Shay, Matthew Casey and Kelly Severide. They were here because Serena's patient was Christopher Hermann; a firefighter from their house. As Serena made her way over to the group she took in all the worried faces, one of the things that Serena found to be one of the hardest parts of her jobs were talking to loved ones. Given that what she could tell them news that would make cry with joy or cry with despair. When Serena reached the group she avoided direct eye contact with everyone else except her patients wife as right now she wasn't Serena or Rocket, in this moment she was Dr. McArthur.

"Mrs. Hermann?" Serena began addressing the blonde hair woman who she believed to her patients spouse.

"Yes."

"My name is Dr. McArthur and I'm the surgeon that worked on your husband Christopher." Serena began not a hundred percent sure with what she should say first; these things weren't easy especially when there were several firefighters looking at you trying to read your body language and facial expressions in an attempt to figure out whether the news was good or bad. Which made Serena even more determined to avoid looking at them as she couldn't deal with looking at them especially Kelly right now. She knew they were worried about their friend and colleague but her job right now was to inform Mrs. Hermann about her husband and personal feelings couldn't interfere witht hat.

"As you know your husband was injured in the line of duty and when Christopher arrived here he was in a very serious condition as he had sustained some internal bleeding from falling through a floor of the building he was in. Because of the extent of his injuries he required surgery and during the course of the surgery there were some complications because of the extensive internal bleeding, which made it very difficult to locate the source of the bleed."

"Oh my god… Is Chris… Is h-he?" Mrs. Herman stammered struggling to ask whether her husband was still alive or not and Serena watched as Chief Boden placed a hand on her shoulder.

"He's alive, it took a fair while but we eventually found the source of the bleed, stopped it and then repaired the damage that was done. Christopher should make a full recovery." Serena announced and Mrs. Hermann burst into tears whilst everyone seemed to let out the collective breath that they had been holding. This moment was what made Serena's job worthwhile, it made the endless hours and countless shifts worthwhile when she told a family that their loved one was okay.

"T-Thank you." Mrs. Hermann said making her way over to hug Serena, who just took it in her stride, emotional relatives hugging her was a part of the job. Following the hug from Mrs. Hermann Serena received several more from everyone else much to her amusement except for Kelly who was just looking at her. "Can we see him?

"Not right now I'm afraid but I will send one of my interns to come get you and take you to your husband when you can see him, I promise." Serena stated and she was about to take her leave and go about grabbing some coffee and much needed food when Kelly walked up to her and she just couldn't leave once she looked at those blue eyes of his.

"You don't know how much this all means to us, thanks Serena." Kelly said before pulling Serena into a hug, she knew that this was probably reminding him of Andy. It had only been a month since Andy had died and so having another colleague being injured in the line of duty was bound to bring up a lot of memories for Kelly and everyone else. It was only natural, being a firefighter was dangerous job and they were all aware that they may not come home.

"There's no need to thank me, I was just doing my job." Serena replied, as a surgeon she was cocky but today wasn't one of those times. Things had been a bit hair for a while and Serena wasn't going to tell them that at point she thought that Hermann wouldn't make it off the table. It was better she played everything off and made less of a deal off it.

"No you weren't, it was more than that." Kelly pressed and Serena just shook her head.

"Firehouse 51 will forever be in your gratitude Serena." Casey said and Serena could feel a hint of a blush appear on her face.

"Your father would be very proud." Chief Boden added.

"Um… So I've got head off and check in on other patients and Christopher but I'll keep you all updated and let you know if any changes although I don't suspect it will. If you need anything Kelly has both my cell and pager number so he can get in contact with me other than that I will see you when I turn a blind eye to all of you being in Christopher's hospital disregarding the visitors policy…"

"Speaking of me, can I buy you a cup of coffee and perhaps have a quick chat?" Kelly asked.

"You had me at coffee Kelly but sure we can do both." Serena replied with a small smile as she kind of needed to talk to Kelly about something and him being here at the hospital was kind of perfect. So the two of them left the others and headed towards the hospital cafeteria for a crappy cup of coffee. "So what did you want to talk about?"

"Nothing in particular I just wanted to catch up and tell you that I really like your scrub cap." Kelly said glancing over to Serena's scrub cap which she hadn't taken off since she had come out of the OR which had rockets on it. The scrub cap had been a gift from the Chief of trauma surgery when she had arrived at lakeshore because of her reputation and nickname. If anyone was going to find the entire thing hilarious then it would be Kelly.

"Thanks."

"Hey Rocket… I just wanted to say that you saving Hermann really means a lot, not to his family but the rest of us. Losing Andy was hard enough on the house but if we had lost Herman then… I don't really know, except that we couldn't lose another man especially not this soon. But what I'm really trying to say other than thank you is that there is nobody I'd rather have taking care of any of us from 51 than you. I know you play it down to me but you are an amazing doctor and I trust you with my life Serena. If I ever needed surgery I'd want you to do it." Kelly said and Serena was stunned by this, by how much faith Kelly had in her abilities as a surgeon.

"You don't know how much that means to me and just so you know I'd trust you to rescue me from a fire and everything else that you do on squad." Serena replied as the two of them continued walking and a few minutes later they had grabbed their coffees and Serena had strategically led them to the ER. "Hey will you follow me quickly? I want to show you something…"

"Sure." Kelly stated not noticing that Serena had picked up an empty chart as she led them into an empty exam room. Once they were in and the door was shut Serena put down her coffee and turned to Kelly.

"Take off your clothes."


	9. Chapter 9

"Take off your clothes."

"Excuse me?" Kelly asked in bewilderment as that was the last thing he was expecting Serena to say, whilst Kelly had seen her do some pretty wild things during the years that he had known her. Never before had he heard Serena suggest something so brazen especially in the place that she worked. When they slept together all those years ago it was because the two were pretty hammered but she wasn't drunk now. Serena was stone cold sober with a very serious look on her face, which suggested that she meant business.

"I need you to take off your clothes, well actually only your jacket and t-shirt." Serena clarified.

"Oh…" Kelly slowly said as he realized that this wasn't what he thought it was and he was having a hard time figuring out whether that was a good thing or not. Probably a good thing considering what happened the last time him and Serena slept together but there was a tiny bit of disappointment on his part.

"What did you think I meant?" Serena questioned and Kelly knew it was best if he didn't respond to that but she still managed to figure it out, given that Serena McArthur was one of the smartest people he had ever met and her face to on a look of mile disgust. "Kelly Severide get your filthy mind out of the gutter! Not everything is about sex…"

"You told me to take off my clothes, what else was I supposed to think?" Kelly shot back with as he slowly slid off his leather jacket.

"Okay you have me there, I admit I could have worded that differently but I'm a doctor and we're currently in a hospital why else would I be asking you to take off your clothes here?" Serena retorted as she took Kelly's jacket off him mere seconds after he had taken it off and flung it onto the hospital bed. After that Serena all but forced him to sit down on the bed.

"So you never explained why we're here and why I have to take off my top and I'd kind of like to know before I take off my top and sit half naked in a hospital room." Kelly asked as Serena was still yet to give him any explanation of the kind and whilst normally he was just go along with Serena's occasional odd and eccentric behaviour, this time he wanted to know.

"You want to know why we're here? It's because I'm going to do what I should have done two weeks ago since I've first noticed it and that's take a look at your shoulder. Clearly your having some kind of problem with Kelly but being a typical man you won't man up about it and come see me or any other doctor about it so I'm forcing our hand." Serena stated and Kelly tried to refrain from panicking, he thought that he had the problem with his shoulder under a reasonable amount of control with the steroids he was using. He thought no one had noticed the problems he was having except for Shay but no, it seemed like Serena had picked up on it.

"What are you talking Rocket?" Kelly asked forcing himself to laugh, there was no way he could tell her the truth as Serena was a worrier and if she even caught a whiff about the steroids. She's go straight to Boden or even her beloved Papa Severide. Kelly could picture the two of them arguing about it in his head, with him telling her that he couldn't just take time off from work. And Serena would day something like she'd take his life over his career any day.

"Kelly I may work fifty weeks a year and go just over my limit of 80 hours a week, not including the times when I'm on call or covering someone's shift but I am not stupid. I've seen you grabbing on to your when you don't think anyone is looking, you think no one has caught on yet because you've been careful but I have." Serena firmly stated and Kelly could see that she wasn't going to let it go.

"It's not what you think Serena, it's just a pinched nerve but I've kind of aggravated it due to some of the calls we've been on lately. That's it…" Kelly told her and he noticed that the expression on Serena's face softened.

"I still want to take a look at it Kelly." Serena told him and Kelly knew she wasn't asking him, she was telling him and he'd entertain her.

"Sure thing." Kelly replied, complying with Serena's earlier instruction and slipping off his t-shirt whilst she went and put on some latex gloves. Kelly couldn't help but watch Serena as she carefully examined his shoulder and made him do a series of things to test his range of motion. He noticed the concentration that she was putting into the exam and how quiet she was being and he had never seen that side of her. Usually when the two of them crossed paths it was generally chaotic and Serena would be doing ten million things at once. It was nice to see this side of her but as Kelly watched Serena he noticed the small bags under her eyes. "You look tired."

"Been a long week, lots of traumas and interns who don't know a catheter from their esophagus but don't worry about. I wouldn't treat a patient or operate on someone if exhaustion was going to interfere and put them at harm. I make sure I get sleep whenever I can…" Serena quietly murmured.

"That's good to know." Kelly said as he noticed Serena staring intently at something. "See something you like?"

"Yeah that huge ego of yours."

"Well it takes one to notice one." Kelly retorted which caused Serena to quietly chuckle as she finished up the exam and once she did, Serena got of her gloves and sat down on a stool in front of him. "So what's the diagnosis Dr. Rocket?"

"That's the thing Kelly, whilst I've have seen that you are having a problem with a shoulder it could be down to a pinched nerve but I can't confirm that without a running a few tests to make a correct diagnosis." Serena began and Kelly didn't like where she was going with this in the slightest.

"What kind of tests?"

"A nerve conduction study, electromyography and possibly an MRI, I know that's a lot of big words but it doesn't take too long. Some of these tests can be done at the same time and I can have you done in just under two hours if I pull some strings and use some of the Rocket McArthur charm." Serena explained and Kelly knew there was a reason he had a bad feeling and what Serena had just told him confirmed it. She wanted to do all of these tests which he couldn't let her do.

"Tests means paperwork and official forms and if the CFD find out about this I'll be put on medical leave and I can't do that Rocket, I just can't." Kelly told Serena as slid his t-shirt back on.

"Look I've known you a long time Kelly and I know you love your job, I really do but you need to listen to me when it comes to what I'm telling you now as your doctor. I can't tell anyone about anything that we talk about because of doctor patient confidentiality but you need to listen to what I'm trying to tell you. Whilst it could just be a pinched nerve ignoring it isn't going to do anyone any favors."

"Rocket…"

"Kelly a pinched nerve occurs when too much pressure is applied to a nerve by surrounding tissue and this pressure caused inflammation of the nerve. And that disrupts the nerve's function and if a never is pinched for only a short time and the pressure is relieved than permanent damage is least likely. But if the pressure continues? Chronic pain and permanent nerve damage can occur and given your job that's highly likely given the stress of your job and the high physical demands of it. You need to stop ignoring this Kelly." Serena said and Kelly just didn't even know what to say to convince her otherwise but that didn't mean he wasn't going to try.

"I'm not ignoring this Serena." Kelly said using Serena's actual name to show her that he was taking and her medical advice seriously.

"Does the Chief know?" Serena demanded as she rose from her seat, walked over to a cabinet and looked over at Kelly with a disapproving look on her face.

"No… Why? Is this you trying to give me some kind of ultimatum." Kelly questioned as he wasn't exactly sure what was going on between the two of them right now.

"Of course not but let's take a look at the big picture here Kelly, Andy is dead and I just spent the last hours saving the life of one of your colleagues and honestly the last thing I want is for you to end up on my table. Or you being forced to go on disability and spend the rest of your career at a desk pushing paperwork all day and growing a beer gut. You need to take this seriously because you know that your health is compromised by your job." Serena said and Kelly noticed her voice had gone up about an octave and he couldn't help but wonder how he ended up with someone like her in his life. She cared about him and his well being so much and Kelly knew he didn't deserve her. And whilst he loved her for worrying about him so much he was a big boy and capable of taking care of himself.

"Okay so what do we do about this then Dr. McArthur?" Kelly questioned as he got up from the hospital bed in which he had been sitting on the edge of and made his way over to Serena.

"You're going to take this seriously?" Serena skeptically questioned.

"If makes you happy and worry about me less than I will take this very seriously…" Kelly somewhat lied and he did feel bad about lying to Serena - as she smiled at that he had just told her - given that all she wanted to do was help. But he had his reasons for doing things his own way, however he'd sit and listen to her and promise to do whatever she said and then Serena would let the whole thing dropped if she believed he was actually following through with it all.

"We have a few options here the first is physical therapy, then there is Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatories you can take it's stuff like Advil, which helps relieve pain and alleviate the inflammation. We can also treat this with oral corticosteroids as they can help reduce swelling, as well as pain. Then there are narcotics." Serena said and Kelly tried not to react when Serena mentioned narcotics.

"You can give me narcotics?" Kelly questioned.

"I can but I won't." Serena stated.

"It's not like I'm a drug dealer Rocket!"

Serena rolled her eyes. "I know that but the use of narcotics are reserved for patients with severe pain that is not relieved by any other options. I don't like prescribing them as it's not hard to get addicted to them as they are powerful stuff. Besides even if I did, which I won't as I've mentioned the use of narcotics are usually prescribed for a limited time only."

"So we have Advil, oral something, physio and narcotics… What else?" Kelly asked moving things along.

"We have spinal injections of steroids which would be injected near where the nerve is being pinched. While the steroid injections do not take the pressure completely off, they may lessen the swelling and relieve the pain enough to allow the nerve to recover with more time." Serena explained and Kelly just nodded as he already knew this given that he was using steroids already to treat his shoulder issue but he couldn't tell Serena that. "Then we have one final option which is a last resort which I'm telling you know is not an option for you as I won't let you get that bad."

"And what is this bad option oh wise doctor?" Kelly joked.

"Surgery." Serena said in a tone of voice that was practically devoid of all and any emotion and Kelly stopped laughing as surgery wasn't definitely something he wanted to avoid. Given that he'd be of work for god knows how long.

"Oh."

"Yeah." Serena wearily said before taking a deep breath and sighing. "Look I've given you a lot of information and you need time to think it over but what I think you need to do is take some time off from work. Sometimes the symptoms are alleviated by resting the affected area although I suspect that won't be a long term option with your job. But take the time off and try it and after that we'll start with the physiotherapy and some of the anti-inflammatory medication."

"Thanks Rocket, I think I'll do that." Kelly said lying yet again as there was no way he could take time off work now with Hermann being out for at least two weeks. It just wasn't do able. "You're the best Rocket, how can I thank you for everything you've done today."

"Well I take payments in the form of dinner and tequila."

"I'll see what I can do."


	10. Chapter 10

Serena stood on the Michigan Avenue Bridge wrapped up in a warm coat with dark sunglasses covering her eyes, today was one of the few days off from work she had and she was outside, freezing her butt off waiting for Emma instead of being tucked up in bed. The two of them were going shopping although Serena just wanted to curl up in bed and slowly die given due to the almighty hangover that she currently had. But Serena had to admit that being outside despite the cold and windy weather was kind of helping her feel better. Although the vertigo that she was currently expecting was one cold hard bitch and Serena told herself that she was never drinking tequila again but she knew that was a lie, Serena would be drinking her favourite poison again after she had a bad day at work or got into an argument with her mother, whatever came first. Sliding her sunglasses up to the top of her head, Serena pinched the bridge of her nose and as she did Serena noticed Emma making her way over to her carrying two cups of coffee.

"Thank god your finally here." Serena quietly said as she took one of the cups of coffee.

"You look like the grim reapers mothers." Emma couldn't help but point out and Serena just sneered at her as she took a sip of her coffee. She knew that she looked like crap without Emma feeling the need to point it out to her without the remark about the grim repairs mother. "So how'd you get like this? Yesterday night when your shift ended you told me your were going home to take a bubble bath and then crawling into bed and watching George Clooney. And the hangover you seem to have is not the kind you get from drinking an entire bottle of wine…"

"When I told you I was going home I meant it but then I got home and who is standing outside my apartment complex? Kelly…" Serena said sliding her sunglasses down to cover her poor tired eyes from the glare of the bright sun.

"So what did our favourite hot firefighter want?" Emma asked as she linked her arm through Serena's arm and the two of them began to slowly walk towards Michigan Avenue to begin their little shopping trip.

"Nothing really, he just stopped by to see me on his way home from work and Kelly wanted to know whether I wanted to go grab a drink and before I knew it, we were in the first of many dive bars drinking the first of many alcoholic beverages we had last night. I should have said no because when Kelly and I go out drinking things tend to end get very messy but he was there standing outside my building with those blue eyes of his and I just couldn't say no…"

"I can see why, that Lt. Severide of yours is quite the looker Serena." Emma noted.

"And he knows it and Kelly uses it to his advantage, you should have seen me during the first two years of me meeting Kelly. All that guy had to do was give me a smile and turn on that charm of his and it was like I had no self control and I found myself agreeing to do practically anything he asked of me." Serena noted in amusement as she took another sip of her coffee.

"Ohh a walk down memory lane, I like the sound of that Dr. McArthur… You can tell me all about how you and Kelly Severide met all those years ago, I want all the gory details especially how the two of you ended up sleeping together all those years ago. You never gave me the details about the hot firefighter sex and I haven't given up about getting those all important answers." Emma said and the excitement was clear in her voice and Serena knew there was no way she could escape this, except for maybe running away. However that was quickly ruled out as Serena was pretty certain that she'd only get about two hundred meters away before her breakfast would come up and make an appearance.

"You really want to know? Not all of it's pretty Em…" Serena began.

"Of course I want to know!" Emma retired.

Serena took a deep breath and sighed. "I was twenty five and I was about two months into my last year of med school at the University of Chicago and I was on rotation at Mount Sinai, when I met Kelly I was on rotation in the emergency room. We didn't meet in the most conventional way, there was no eyes meeting across the room in the slightest. We actually bumped into each other after he had brought some guy in, anyway we bumped into each other when this guy right next to us dropped like a rock. Turns out the guy was in cardiac arrest and the two of us saved his life, Kelly gave him CPR whilst I did got the defibrillator and then I shocked the guy back into sinus. Pretty much became friends after that…"

"So a young sweet impressionable Serena, yet to be nicknamed Rocket McArthur stumbles into the hot firefighter who will forever change her world…"

"Pretty much. Sometimes I don't even know how I got through that last year of med school as Kelly just led me completely astray, always convincing me to come out and blow off my studying although it did calm down a bit when I went to Northwestern for my residency. My intern year I was working insane hours and couldn't go out too much but that never stopped Kelly or Andy. They'd stop by occasionally and hang out with my and some of my work friends who were interns with me. Kelly even slept with a few of them…" Serena stated.

"Ouch." Emma replied.

"Yeah, they all thought that they were the ones who could tame Kelly Severide and make him settle down, back then he wasn't anywhere ready for that or a proper relationship and he still isn't. Kelly is as much a womanizer if not more, from when I met him. He is just about having fun and not being tied down in the slightest." Serena explained with a small chuckle.

"What about you Serena? Did you ever have feelings for Kelly back then?" Emma asked and at first Serena didn't say anything. She wasn't sure what to say as Emma was convinced she was in love with Kelly and in major denial about it. Serena knew she could lie but Emma wouldn't believe, so she figured the truth was the best way to go.

"It's complicated…" Serena began.

"Yeah I'm beginning to get that with you and Kelly but continue anyway…" Emma prodded.

"I did have feelings for Kelly but like I said, it was complicated. It wasn't like I had a crush on him from the moment I met him because I didn't. It was always on and off, sometimes I had feelings for Kelly this went on for weeks and months at a time, then there were a lot of time that I didn't have feelings for him. For some reason they just came and went constantly and that was fine with me and Kelly was doing his thing with countless women and I was dating myself. It never really amounted to anything, never when I did have feelings for Kelly did I act upon." Serena stated.

"Why not?"

"Kelly is a great guy, I trust him with my life and I love having him in my life but no matter how much I had feelings for him and suspected he had feelings for me it would have never have worked. I know what Kelly is like, I've seen the good and the bad and I accept him for what he is wholeheartedly but he would have broken my heart. I don't know how long it would have taken; weeks, months or maybe even a year but Kelly would have grown restless and felt trapped and would do something stupid. Kelly would be unfaithful and it would break my heart and we wouldn't be friends anymore and I didn't want that. Our friendship meant too much to me to risk it on the occasional feelings I had for him." Serena explained with a sigh.

"So how the hell did you end up sleeping with him?" Emma asked and Serena knew that it was a good question as she had just herself said she never did anything with Kelly because she didn't want to ruin her friendship with him.

"Fast forward a few years and I'm a fifth year surgical resident at Northwestern, I've already chosen trauma for my specialty, I've been referred to as Rocket for several years now and I'm dating this guy called Richard and at the time I was kind of a bit neurotic about studying for my boards. So Kelly came over to the hospital one day after his shift ended and he told he was taking me out and for night I was going to forget about surgeries, studying, the boards and I was just going to have fun. We went to a bar and as most good stories start, alcohol was involved and how long we were there for I can't remember but then we were in Kelly's apartment and before you knew it we were having sex. The next morning I woke up in Kelly's beg and was aghast at what I had done, I had just cheated on my boyfriend who I had assured several times that nothing was going on with me and Kelly. I freaked out Em and I took it out on Kelly, I yelled at him saying that this was his fault for getting me so drunk and not stopping thins before they went too far. But I knew what I was doing Em, in the morning I blamed it on the alcohol and Kelly when I had no right to. Yes I was drunk but I knew what I was doing and I wanted to sleep with Kelly, we had both know that it was a long time coming…" Serena explained.

"And? How was it?" Emma prodded not caring about the fact that Serena had cheated on her boyfriend, she just wanted to know about the sex.

"It was… Let's just say I'd recommend hot firefighter sex." Serena vaguely said which caused Emma to laugh.

"So you slept with Kelly whilst you were dating this Richard guy, what happened next?"

"Everything changed. I broke up with my boyfriend straight away and then Kelly and I stopped talking for six months straight. I used my boards and work as an excuse but I just couldn't be around him at that time, my head was all over the place and whenever we were in the same room with each other we just pretended that the other one wasn't there. We spoke once during that time and we agreed that it was best that we both went our separate ways for a while, I don't know why Kelly did it but I know why I did; it was because I was in love with him." Serena wearily said as thought back to the events of three years ago.

"Serena…" Emma softly began and Serena was grateful that she was wearing sunglasses.

"It's hard not to fall in love with Kelly Severide, it was the last thing I ever wanted to happen to me but it did and eventually I admitted how I felt about him to myself but things were so bad between us that it hurt too much to be here in Chicago anymore, I knew I'd keep running into Kelly so I turned down my fellowship at Northwester and took up the offer that Massachusetts General gave me. I couldn't bring myself to tell Kelly so I had our friend Andy tell him instead and for some reason I thought that Kelly would just show up and tell me not to go. I thought he'd look at me with those blue eyes of his and say he didn't want me to go and somehow I'd be convinced not to go to Boston. He didn't. So I left and we had no contact with each other until we came across each other at Andy's funeral and Kelly found out I had come back to Chicago."

"I would have thought Kelly would have gone after you." Emma said after a moment.

"So did I… It just proves Kelly never felt the same way." Serena replied with a shrug of her shoulders. "But it doesn't matter anymore, the past is in the past and the two of us being apart has seemed to do us both good. We're both where we want to be in our careers and we've grown as people, I am no longer a complete sucker to Kelly's charms and he's learnt to be serious once in a while. Most importantly we're friends again…"

"I don't believe the two of you are just meant to be friends, it's been years since what happened three years ago and I've seen the two of you together and there is something there Serena." Emma stated and Serena just sighed, most people were always convinced something was always going on with her and Kelly, which there probably was. But that didn't always mean it was a good thing.

"Maybe it's just not meant to be? If the two of us were supposed to be together then it would have happened by now but it hasn't. Kelly and I have gone through too much to be anything more than friends and he broke my heart once, I don't think I could cope with him doing it again…"


	11. Chapter 11

Serena quietly walked into the garage of Firehouse 51 and as she made her way further into firehouse she saw that the squad's truck wasn't in the garage, which meant that they weren't here. Which was kind of annoying as Serena had come over to see Kelly or rather speak to him. But she could wait, she would wait for him as she really needed Kelly today of all days. As Serena walked into the actual station she saw various members of Firehouse 51 going about their business as they waited for a call and she wasn't sure how to begin. She hadn't been over to the station since they had thrown her a thank you dinner for saving Hermann's life and a lot had changed since then. Well more her then anything but today was different, Serena had the worst day that she could ever possible remember and after her shift had finished she found herself here looking for Kelly. She didn't even bother getting changed after work, she was dressed in her scrubs but she had thrown a sweatshirt on to keep her warm given that she had been in the morgue for twenty minutes after her shift had ended.

"Hi everyone!" Serena called out giving out a quick wave to everyone.

"Well look who it is, the infamous Dr. McArthur and I see you've gone back to your original hair colour." Casey began and Serena couldn't help but smile as she had pushed a piece of hair behind her ear. Two days ago she decided to go back to her natural hair colour and after one expensive trip to the salon she was now back to being a brunette.

"Hey Casey…" Serena began as she looked over to the small round table where Casey was sitting only to be surprised to see Dr. Hallie Thomas with him, Serena knew her from the hospital as Hallie was a resident and was currently doing an ER rotation. However Serena didn't know that Casey and Hallie knew each other. "… And Hallie."

"Hi Dr. McArthur."

"Serena, please…" Serena instructed with a small smile as she walked over to the two of them.

"You two know each other? I didn't know that…" Hallie asked and Serena and Casey just looked at each other as saying they knew each other was a bit of an understatement.

"Yeah, Serena and I have been friends for a few years now… We met when she was an intern through Andy as Serena became friends with him through Severide and we all hung out occasionally until Serena left Chicago to go to Massachutes General for her fellowship. Then I'm friends with two of Serena's brothers as she comes from a family of firefighters." Casey explained and Serena nodded along as she had known Casey almost as long as she had known Kelly. But her past with Casey was less complicated that hers with Kelly.

"So the two of you are together, huh? Not once since I've been back Matthew Casey did you tell me that you were dating someone who worked at my hospital. I'm rather hurt you didn't tell me about Hallie –" Serena began.

"—Don't even go there Serena, I would have told you but I've barely seen you as if your not at work then your with Severide." Casey retorted and Serena couldn't help but let out a weak smile as Casey had got her real good on that one and he knew it. They both did.

"Severide? Serena are you and Kelly an item?" Hallie asked.

"No… God no, not that there's anything wrong with Kelly but he and I are just friends. We're just really good friends which is what brings me here, I'm kind of looking for Kelly. He's kind of the company to my misery and when I'm not feeling great I come to him and Kelly cheers me up in his typical fashion. And I've kind of had a really long and crappy day…" Serena replied in a weary manner

"Yeah I heard about what happened, are you okay?" Hallie questioned and Serena swallowed a lump in her throat before nodding and forcing a smile on her face. She needed people to think that she was fine and that nothing was wrong and that she had not gone through the most physically and emotionally draining day of her life. Serena didn't want to go home as that meant being alone with her thoughts and thinking about her day as she drowned her sorrows with a bottle of wine. And she didn't want to bother her family especially her not so cancer ridden mother as she wouldn't understand. Serena could have gone to Emma or any of her other friends from work but she hadn't. She came here instead. To see Kelly.

"I'll be fine." Serena said after a moment and the look Casey gave her said that he didn't quite believe that and Serena could tell that he was going to ask what was going on. But before he could, he was interrupted by the sound of an approaching truck and turning around Serena could see that Squad 3 had returned. Not wanting to be impolite she turned back round to Casey and Hallie to give them a polite smile. "I'll catch you guys later and I forgot to tell you this earlier but you did great work today Hallie…"

"Hey Rocket… You dyed your hair back. It looks good." Kelly said once he had made his way over and pressed a kiss on Serena's check and already she felt marginally better.

"Yeah, c-can we talk Kelly?" Serena quietly replied.

"What is it? What's wrong?"

"I've had a bad day." Serena stated and she needn't say anything more as her saying to Kelly that she had a bad day was code. It was code for Serena needing to be saved as she was close to falling off the edge. And when Serena needed to be saved she always went to her trusty fireman to rescue her. Kelly reacted straight away and took Serena's hand and led her through the firehouse and into the empty locker room.

"What happened?" Kelly asked and Serena let go of his hand and took a deep breath before sighing and sitting down on the ground and leaning against a locker.

"It had been a crappy day from the start to the end, two surgeries which one didn't make it off the table and countless traumas in the ER. I had a seventeen year old kid who was brought in after being shot and I had managed to stabilize him and we were getting ready to transfer him upstairs. He crashed and died in the elevator. Then it gets worst, I got a bit trauma… 30 year old woman beaten within an inch of her life. She's got a collapsed lung, lacerated spleen and just so happens to be 34 weeks pregnant. I had to do a crash c-section, the baby was in distress and it was the only thing I could do. I had the Chief of OB/GYN paged to help me but the baby died Kelly. He was alive for maybe two minutes and then he was gone. Mom died an hour later, her injuries were way too extensive. Turns out her husband beat the crap out of her…" Serena wearily explained.

"Serena…" Kelly quietly said as he sat down next to her and automatically Serena leaned her head against his shoulder.

"I lost two kids today Kelly, one was a kid who had fallen in with a bad crowd and the other one hadn't even got a chance to live his life. I tried so hard to save them all…"

"Of course you did." Kelly assured Serena, gently squeezing her knee. She had missed this, being able to go to Kelly in her time of need. She had missed him.

"I have to present the mom and baby case at an M&M." Serena quietly said referring to a morbidity and mortality conference, which were used to peer review poor or unusual outcomes during the care of patients. It was always a bloodbath and Serena hated it, she hated public speaking and now she was being thrown into the lions den.

"That sucks."

"I hate kids dying…"

"What can I do? Say the word and I'll do it Serena." Kelly asked as he linked his hands with Serena's and entwined his hands through hers. The two of them sat there in silence and there was familiar feeling in the air, a feeling that Serena hadn't felt in years and had missed but she hadn't realized until now. And there was no place she'd rather be.


End file.
